Charging and discharging of automatic ovens, proofing-chambers, and the like.



L. C. REESE.

CHARGING AND DISCHARGING 0F AUTOMATIC OVENS, PROOFING CHAMBERS, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 17. I9I6.

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Patented May15, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVENTOR. Z544; Mfg g,

L. C. REESE.

CHARGlNG AND DISCHARGING 0F AUTOMATIC OVENS, PNOOFING CHAMBERS, AND THE LIKE.

v APPLICATION FILED AUG-l7. 1916. 1

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES\ E INVENTOR. v 1/ 44%wfi/Q 6 (I A v v 6,,Q53D Patented May 15, 1917.

L. C. REESE.

CHARGING AND DISCHARGING 0F AUTOMATIC OVENS, PBOOFING CHAMBERS, AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.17.1916.

Patented May 15, 191.7.

a SHEETS-SHEET a.

.INVENTOR.

WITNESSES:

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- LOUIS CHARLES REESE, 0F SAG-INAW, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR T0 WERNER 8c PFLEIJDERER (10., 0F SAGINAW, MICHIGAN.

CHARGING AND DISCHARGING OF AUTOMATIC OVENS, PROOFING-CHAMBEBS, AND THE LIKE.

, Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 15, 191i *3.

Original application filed February 28, 1916, Serial No. 81,008. Divided and this application filed August 17, 1916. Serial No. 115,513.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS-CHARLES REESE, residing at Saginaw, in the county of Saginaw and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in the Charging and Discharging of Automatic Ovens, Proofing-Chambers, and the like, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to automatic baking ovens, proofing chambersand like apparatus through which the articles to be I subjected to the process worked therein, are

passed in a certain, predetermined time and in a circuitous partly horizontal, partly more or less vertical-route by endless chains, and consists in novel means of charging and discharging these apparatus.

The object of this invention is to perform these operations automatically and Without stopping the apparatus, in a most simple, eflective and economic manner.

To this end, I place the articles to be treated or the containers holding themon trays which may also be formed by joining rows of these containers by suitable means as iron bands, and suspend these trays from the chains carrying 'themthrou'gh the apparatus bydevices consisting of two" parts automatically engaging with and disengaging from each other, one part of these suspending devices being connected to thetray and working together with the other part attached to the chains. The suspending devices used in the example described in'this specification are'composed of rings attached to the trays and of hooks arranged to catch into the said rings and suspended from cross rods connecting the chains. These cross rods are rotatably mounted in the links of the chains or in blocks or the like attached thereto.

The loaded trays are conveyed into the apparatus by'automatic means, usually an ordinary endlem-band-conveyer, to a point so determined and arranged that the hooks suspended from the cross rods connecting the chains, while passing upward in close proximity to the trays on the conveyer, are bound to engage with the rings attached to these trays, which thus will be picked up from the conveyor, lifted upward and then carried through the apparatus.- The trays are discharged from the latter by depositing them on their downward passage on automatic means for carrying them away, usually an endless-band-conveyer, passing underneathat a point so determined and arranged that the rings attached to the trays are bound to disconnect themselves from the hooks suspended from the cross rods connecting the chains, while traveling down ward, whereupon the chains with their appurtenances and the disconnected trays are quickly removed in different directions, the conveyer taking away the trays being so constructed and traveling with such ve locity that they cannot interfere with the chains, their appendixes or any other obstacles-. At the charging and discharging points of the apparatus preferably sprocket wheels are installed for the chains to run over in order to give to the latter, to the suspending devices 'and to the trays just picked up or to be disconnected, ample stability and the proper direction.

The feeding devices used hitherto for this kind of apparatus made it necessary that the chains were stopped while the trays were charged or discharged, and the unavoidable consequences were jerks and shocks liable greatly to damage the more or less soft goods in appearance, shape and size. This was especially the casein automatic baking ovens of this class.

The accompanying drawings, which serve for more fully explaining the novel features and devices and the working of the invention, show the arrangement in its application to a proofing and baking apparatus used for pan bread. 4

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a tray having rings engaging with hooks suspended from the cross rods connecting the chains.

Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section.

, both operations or baked. The pans are connected by iron bands, aarranged at their longer sides and a at their shorter sides. The cross piece a (Fig. 2) serves to stifien the structure. In Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 the tray A is provided at its narrow sides with the stays B and B bearing the rings C.

These stays have two branches .7) and b, (Fig. 1) connected by the square top part 12 ,The ring is arranged vertical to the narrow side of the tray, consists of the annular part 0 and the rectangular piece 0 which is fixed to the top part b of the stays. The opening 0 of the ring C is of such a size and shape that the hook D suspended fromthe cross rod E, connecting the chains, has ample play to engage and disengage therewith.

When a single apparatus is to be charged and discharged, a single hook will serve butwhen a tray is to be transferred from one apparatus to another one, adjoining it as shown in Fig. 3, a double hook is the most suitable device. A double hook is shown in the drawings. The hook- D iss'uspended from the cross rod E by means of its annular part (l connected by the stem (Z, with the upward bent arms d, and (Z These arms are arranged vertical to the cross rod E and adapted easily to slip into and out of the ring C. The opening 61 of the ring D has a larger diameter than the cross rod E in order to decrease the friction when the latter is turned during its circuitous route through the apparatus. In order to prevent a possible side slip of the ring D on the cross rod E, the latter is provided at the points where the hooks are suspended, with small vertical grooves c. (Fig. 2.) I

The cross rod E is rotatably mounted in the chains F and F which it connects, and

rests between the latter and the hooks D,

D,leaving ample play for the largest tray possibly to be usedon the loose wheels G and G which revolve freely around E and run in the grooves h for G and h, for G, of the rails H and H The latter are supported by the brackets I and I fixed to the walls or structure of the apparatus.

The rails H and H carry in this way the cross rod E and with same the chains F and F and the trays A, while these chains travel more or less horizontally. When the direction of the chains is altered more or less to.

the vertical, or from the latter to the horizontal again, the cross rods, wheels and trays are carried by the chains F and F running over. and supported by the teeth ofsprocketwheels in the Well known manner of apparatus of this kind. For the successful working of the kind of apparatus forming the object of this invention it is essential that the. chains carrying the trays are always exactly parallel and move with C, the aperture 0 of which exactly the same velocity, and that the same do not'sway to and fro, 'but remain always horizontal at every point of their travel through the apparatus. points are successfully attained by means of the arrangements just described of guiding the. trays rotatably suspended from rotatable rods connecting the chains through the machine. 2

In Fig. 3, 0 represents diagrammatically the sprocket wheel around which the chains F travel inside an oven before its charging opening, and P the sprocket wheel for the chains F before the discharging opening in a proofing chamber situated alongside the oven. The sprocket wheel 0 revolves around the axle 0, and the sprocket wheel P around the axle go, both moving in the same direction as shown by the arrows.' I is a horizontal endless-band-conveyer driven by the rollers K and K rotated around the axles k and 7c, in the direction of the arrows by' suitable driving means, the carrying surface of the conveyer traveling from the proofing chamber 'toward the oven. The roller K is arranged within the proofing chamber well underneath the sprocket wheel P, and the roller K within the oven underneath the sprocket wheel 0. Adjacent to the roller K reaching still farther into the oven, preferably a rest is arranged for the trays arriving there; it consists of the parallel, loose rollers L, L turning easily around their axles Z, Z supported by the bracket M. The carrying plane of the rollers L, L is slightly inclined Irom the conveyer I in a downward direction so that the trays arriving there from the latter easily slip down against underneath, whereupon the chains take the cross rods with the empty hooks suspended therefrom to the charging place of the These important proofing chamber to be reloaded with fresh trays. In order that the hooks D suspended from the cross rods easily disengage from the rings C when the trays reach the conveyer I, the trays are suspended from the cross rods by the arms d of the hooks D pointing outside the sprocket wheel P.

When in its downward passage in the position I of the cross rod E belonging thereto, the preceding tray A with its cross rod E has just attained the position II and is being dropped on the conveyer I,-while proofing chamber the tray A, reaches the the preceding cross rod E, with its emptv hooks has reached the position III of the proofing chamber.

The tray A, which, while in theproofing chamber, had been attached to the arms (Z, of the hooks of the cross rod E has at the same time reached the position I within the oven, and resting on the roller platform L against the support N, is just being picked up by the arms (I, of the hooks of the oven cross rod E engaging the rings of the tray. The tray A, which entered the oven previously to the tray A has been lifted by the hooks of the preceding cross rod E traveling upward, onto the position II in the oven, while the empty hooks on the cross rod E are moving toward the platform L, ready to pick up and lift the tray A, as soon as it has arrived from the proofing chamber at the position I in the oven.

This cycle of operations is repeated continuously. For the exactworking of the arrangement it is-of courseessential that the conveyer I travels with the correct speed for the trays coming from the proofing chamber to be picked up by the cross rods in the oven, a result which easily can be attained by well known means.

The trays can only be attached to the hooks of the cross rods which have to carry them, when the openings of the hooks to engage with the rings of the trays are turned toward the latter, and the former move in an upward direction toward the said rings. After having been lifted from the conveyer or roller platform, the trays are at once carried upward to be out of the path of the following hooks, cross rods and trays. Ihe conveyer bringing the trays to the charging point and the cross rods with the empty hooks ready to engage the rings of the trays travel therefore always in opposite direction to each other.

As the cross rods and their hooks turn during their travel through the apparatus in order to keep the trays always upright and horizontal, the openings of the hooks will always point in the same direction as that in which they \Were placed into the rings of the trays.

In order to dischargethe trays, the chains and the hooks of the cross rods from which the trays are suspended, must travel downward, not only until the trays have been deposited on the conveyer underneath, but until the cross rods and their hooks are quite out of reach of the rings of the trays.

If, as in Fig. 3 showing the discharge of the trays from the proofing cabinet, the arms of the hooks which connect the descending trays to the cross rods, point outside the discharging sprocket wheel P, the disengaged hooks and their cross rods travel at once in opposite direction to that of the conveyer taking the disengaged trays away,

and the exact velocity of this conveyer is lmrmiterial, as long as it runs quickly enough to obtain the desired result. But, when, as in F 1g. at, the arms of the hooks which connect the descending trays to the cross rods point into the interior of the discharging sprocket wheel the disengaged hooks and their cross rods and the conveyer taking the d sconnected trays away, move in the beginnmg 1n the same direction, and in this case the arrangement and movements of the conveyer must be such as to prevent the trays with their accessories and the hooks on their cross rods from interfering with each other.

In Fig. 4 0 represents diagrammatically the discharging sprocket wheel of the oven, revolving around its axle 0,. The chains F travel in the direction of the arrows, downward at the right hand side of the sprocket wheel where the trays containing the baked bread ready to leave the oven, arrive, then around the lower part of the sprocket wheel 0, and upward at the left hand side, carrying the empty hooks and their cross rods again to the charging point of the oven. The conveyer carrying away the disconnected trays from underneath the sprocket wheel 0 consists ,of two parts :an endlessbandconveyer R moving with about double the velocity of that of the chains in the oven and worked in the ordinary way by rollers S rotated around their axles s by suitable driving means, and a gravity conveyer formed by the rollers T the axles 25 of which are supported in the bracketlike staging U and rotated by suitable driving means in the direction of the arrows with such a speed that a tray placed on the rollers moves in the direction of the conveyer R with .1 ve locity one and a half times as great as that of the trays inside the oven. The carrying surfaces of the two conveyers R and T are arranged in such a manner that the trays leaving the roller conveyer T easily slip over onto the band conveyer R. The trays are suspended from their cross bars by means of the arms (I of the double hooks D as they were charged into the oven, see Fig. 3.

hen the upinost, arriving tray A, suspended from the hooks belonging to the cross rod E is at the position I, .the preceding tray A suspended from the hooks belonging to the cross rod E is in the position II. just settling down on the roller conveyer T. At the same time the tray A, which preceded A and has been disconnected from the hooks of the cross rod ER is in position III, on the band conveyer R, being quickly carried away, and the empty hooks and their cross rod E, are in position III on the sprocket wheel, while the preceding empty hooks of the cross rod E are at the position IV, traveling upward to the charging point of the oven.

The carrying surfaces of the conveyers R and T are arranged at such a distance F around the lower part of the sprocket wheel 0 cannot interfere with the trays or their rings on the conveyers.

When in the position II on the sprocket wheel the tray A, had settled on the roller conveyeryT and, traveling along the same, arrived at the position III",, the cross bar E was in the position III on the sprocket wheel, and the rings Gof the tray A, were therefore completely free from the hooks D of the cross rods E in any position of its arms as shown in dottedlines. The tray A then entered at once the conveyer R which quickly moved the same into the potion III, thereon, thus leaving far behind at the position III the disconnected hooks with their cross bar k When the hooks of the cross bar E were at the position III on the sprocket wheel, the previously disconnected hooks on the cross bar E were at the position IV thus 'beyond any possibility of colliding with the I tray A or its rings.

I do not limit myself to the exact construction and arrangement of the devices shown in Fig. 4: Or in any other of the ac companying drawings, as the same may be varied without leaving the principles of their construction and arrangement as defined in the claims attached to this specification.

I claim 1. In devices for charging and discharging apparatus of the kind described, the combination'with the trays holding the articles'to be treated, of rings attached to the trays and adapted to automatically engage with and disengage from hooks suspended from cross rods rotatably mounted in and connecting the two chains carrying the trays on the said rods through the apparatus, and conveyors arranged therein at points, where the rings of the trays, while on the said conveyers, are bound to engage with the said hooks traveling upward, and to disengage from the said hooks traveling downward.

, 2. In devices for charging and discharging apparatus of the kind described, the

combination with the trays holding the articlesto be treated, of rings attached to each narrow end of the trays and adapted to automatically engage with and disengage from hooks rotatably suspended from cross rods connecting the chains carrying the trays on the rods through the apparatus,

and conveyers arranged therein at polnts where the rings of the trays, when on the said conveyers, are bound to engage with the said hooks traveling upward, and to disengage from the said hooks traveling in a downward direction. j

3. In devices for charging and discharging apparatus of the kind described, the combination with the trays holding the articles to be treated, of rings attached to the trays and adapted to automatically engage with and disengage from hooks rotatably suspended from cross rods rotatably mounted in and connecting the chains carrying the trays on the rods through the apparatus, and conveyers arranged therein at points, where the rings of the trays when on the said c'onveyers, are bound to engage "with the said hooks traveling upward, and

to disengage from the said hooks traveling downward.

4. In devices forcharging and discharging apparatus of the kind described, the combination with the trays holding the articles to be treated, of rings attached to the trays, of cross rods rotatably mounted in and connecting two parallel endless chains moving the trays through the apparatus, of hooks-suspended from said cross rods, of sprocket wheels propelling the chains, of

means for supporting the trays at a point where the chains and their'cross rods move upward leading the hooks suspended therefrom to engage with the rings ofthe trays on the support, "of a sprocket wheel leading the cross rods in the said upward direction,

of a conveyer removing the trays with the treated articles from the apparatus and so arranged therein that the rings of the trays settling thereon disengage from the hooks suspended from the cross rods passing by in a downward direction,-and of a sprocket wheel leading the chains and cross rods in the said downward direction and away out of the reach ofthetrays on the conveyer.

5. In devices for charging and discharging apparatus of the kind described, the combination with the trays holding the articles to be treated, of rings fixed to the trays, of cross rods rotatably .mounted in and connecting the chains carrying the trays through the apparatus, of double hooks suspended from these'cross rods, and of conveyers arranged in the apparatus at points where the rings of the trays, when on the said conveyors, are bound to slip into the said hooks passing by in an upward d1rec tion, and to slip out of the said hooks passing by in a downward direction.

6. In devices for chargingand discharg ing apparatus of the kind described, the combination ticles to be treated, of rings attached to the said trays, of cross rods rotatably mounted in and connecting the chains carrying. the

with the trays holding the ar- 125 of rails supporting these wheels and so arranged in the apparatus as to secure to the chains the right direction of travel and stability, of hooks suspended from the said cross rods, and of conveyors arranged in theapparatus at points where the rings of the trays, when on the couveyers, are bound to engage with the said hooks passing by in an upward direction, and to disengage from the said hooks passing by in a downward direction.

7. In devices for charging and discharging apparatus of the kind described, the combi nation with the trays holding the articles to be treated,-of rings attached to the ends of these trays, of cross rods rotatably mounted at their ends in and connecting the chains carrying the trays through the apparatus, of hooks suspended from these cross rods and adapted and arranged easily to engage with and disengage from the' rings of the said trays, and of two conveyers, one carrying the articles to be treated into, and the other carrying the treated articles out of the apparatus, and consisting of two parts, one part being an endless-band-conveyer, and the other being composed of loose rollers placed in alinement at points of the apparatus, where the hooks on the cross' rods of the chains pass by, when the trays are to be charged into the apparatus, in an upward direction, thus engaging with the rings and lifting the trays from the said roller conveyer, and, when the trays are to be discharged from the apparatus, in a downward direction, thereby settling the trays on the roller conveyer, While slipping away from the rings they were attached to.

8. In devices for charging and discharging apparatus of the kind described, the combination with the trays holding the articles to be treated, of rings attached to the ends of these trays, of cross rods rotatably mounted at their ends in and connecting the chains carrying the trays through the apparatus, of hooks suspended from these cross rods and arranged easily to engage with and disengage from the rings of the said trays, of a sprocket wheel leading thechains and their cross rods in an upward direction, of loose rollers placed in alinement in a place slightly inclined toward the sprocket wheel and underneath same, of a stop plate arranged at the end of this roller conveyer at a point where the rings of the trays leaning against same are bound to engage with the hooks traveling upward, of a sprocket wheel leading the chains and their cross rods downward at one side and upward on its other side, and of a roller conveyer arranged underneath the said sprocket wheel at a point where the rings of the trays are bound to disconnect from the hooks on the cross rods traveling downward, the rollers being simultaneously rotated by suitable means with such a speed that the trays, after settling on the'conveyer, cannot interfere with the cross rods and their empty hooks traveling around the lower art of the sprocket wheel and then upward 9. In devices for transferring articles from one apparatus to another apparatus of the kind described, the combination with trays holding the articles, of two systemsone for each apparatus-mt parallel endless chains propelled by sprocket wheels at the required speed and carrying the trays, of cross rods rotatably mounted in and connecting the said chains, of hooks suspended therefrom, of rings attached to the trays and adapted to easily engage with or disengage from the hooks on the cross rods, of a sprocket wheel leading the cross rods and hooks carrying the trays with the treated articles downward before the outlet of the first apparatus, of a sprocket wheel arranged in the second apparatus before its charging opening and leading the cross rods with their hooks upward, and of a conveyer traveling in the direction from the first to the second apparatus and arranged at one end underneath the discharging sprocket wheel of the first apparatus at such a point that the rings of the trays when settling on and carried away by the conveyer, disconnect from the hooks of the cross rods moving away in a downward direction and unable to interfere with said trays, and at the other end underneath the charging sprocket wheel of the second apparatus at such a point that the rings of the trays on the said conveyer engage with the empty hooks on the cross rods traveling upward, the trays thus being lifted upward into the said apparatus for being treated.

LOUIS CHARLES REESE.

Witnesses:

Momus L. JonNs'roN, SIDNEY D. GRlDLEY. 

